A database can be stored in a storage system that has one or multiple storage devices. Examples of storage devices can include disk-based storage devices, integrated circuit storage devices, and so forth.
Data loss due to failure of storage devices is a concern. To address the possibility of failure of storage devices, backups of data in the database can be carried out. Backups can include full backups, where the entirety of the database is copied to a backup storage system. Backups can also include differential or incremental backups, where only database data that has changed since the last backup is copied to the backup storage system. As the size of databases has increased, the time associated with carrying out backup operations as well as restore operations (to restore data from a data backup) can be relatively long.